Pantera

All posts tagged Pantera

Multi-platinum selling artist Rex Brown (PANTERA, DOWN) is due to release his first solo album via SPV / Steamhammer within Europe.

“I’ve been working on these songs for a long time,” says Brown. The yet to be titled full length will be the first time in Brown’s career in which he will serve as both, lead vocalist and guitarist in a band. The release is planed for June 23rd, 2017.

Georg Schröder (A+R Steamhammer) on the signing: “We are honored and proud to release the first Rex Brown solo album within Europe. The album shows a side of him, that many people won’t expect but it is well worth to check it out and i’m really looking forward to get this one out there.”

After a season away to gather his wits about him, rediscover his own roots, and assemble a group of players ready to help him execute his vision for the days ahead, Rex Brown reemerges with a semi truck’s worth of rock n’ roll tunes as honest and sincere as they come. The new album is the sound of the man’s own truth, forthright and ego-free. As he likes to say, “You’re only as good as your word and your word better be good.”

Rex’s solo album is full of mojo and the force of character, determination, and nerve. He tracked lead vocals, rhythm guitars, and bass, working with his primary collaborator and old friend, Lance Harvill, a Nashville-based guitarist and songwriter, on the album’s songs. “Lance was & is, my main man on this. Everything we did was finely tuned, both musically & brotherly.”

Drums were tracked by Christopher Williams, himself no stranger to diverse tastes, from funk music to punk. His talent has been utilized by country music star Lee Greenwood, the reconstituted Blackfoot and most recently, power metal legends Accept. The album was produced by New Yorker turned Nashville transplant Caleb Sherman, a multi-instrumentalist with work on records by Little Big Town and Porter Block, among others. “Caleb produced the project from a musician’s standpoint,” adds Brown. “Not just a typical producer’s standpoint, which was something I definitely needed. Between Caleb and Lance, we were a force to be reckoned with. They really pulled out the best in me.”Peter Keyes, known for his work with Lynyrd Skynyrd can also be heard on a few tracks. All bass tracking came from Rex himself as well.

Earlier this week, video footage surfaced of Phil Anselmo shouting “white power” after making the Nazi salute gesture. He issued a statement shortly after saying it was just a joke, but he was not apologizing. Yesterday, (Friday 29th January) Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn posted a video statement calling out Anselmo for his racist actions and alleging there was no white wine backstage and that he came up to Flynn that night and told Flynn that he hated the “n**ger era of Machine Head.” Other bands, like All Shall Perish have similarly lambasted Anselmo, reports metalinjection.net.

Anselmo just posted a video statement issuing a full apology. You can read his words below:

“Philip H Anselmo here, and I’m here to basically respond to all the heat I’ve been getting, that I deserve completely. I was at the Dimebash and it was extremely late at night. There was heavy duty talk between myself and those who love Dime. Heavy emotions were flowing. Jokes were made backstage that transpired upon the stage and it was ugly, it was uncalled for and anyone who knows me and my true nature knows that I don’t believe any of that. I don’t want to be part of any group. I’m an individual and I am 1000% apologetic to anyone to took offense to what I said, because you should’ve taken offense to what I said, and I am so sorry. And I hope you justâ€¦manâ€¦give me another chanceâ€¦toâ€¦just give me another chance. Just give me another chance. I love all of you. And anyone who’s met me knows, I love of all of you. Bless you.”

Unique Australian thrash metal/grindcore/punk group, KING PARROT, have released the first track from their upcoming new album “Dead Set”, along with a video starring Phil Anselmo of Pantera fame. The “Like A Rat” video is available for viewing exclusively via Metal Hammer UK, at this link.

“Dead Set” – the band’s sophomore album – is due for release on May 15th in Europe via Agonia Records, May 19th in North America via Housecore Records and May 15th in Australia via Rocket/EVP. The album is available for pre-orders now (see the links below).

“Dead Set” is the follow-up to 2012 “Bite Your Head Off” effort, which gained high praise from critics and musicians, including the likes of Max Cavalera (Sepultura), Chuck Billy (Testament) and Phil Anselmo (Pantera). The effort allowed the 5-piece to travel acrosss seas and electrify fans, during extensive touring in North America (with Origin, Orange Goblin and Down), Europe (with Weedeater) and performing at festivals such as Soundwave, SXSW and Housecore Horror Festival. KING PARROT‘s video to the track “Shit On The Liver” was a finalist in the Australian Music Video Awards.

Speaking about the sound of the new material, vocalist Matt ‘Youngy’ Young commented: “The great thing about this record is that it actually sounds like a real band and is a reflection of where we are at right now. In my eyes, that is everything a record should be. We are super proud of this and can’t wait to show everyone what we have in store”.

He also stated: “King Parrot are proud to release our new album ‘Dead Set’ via Agonia records this May. It’s been a long process but we happy to say that we are ready to move ahead and get this sucker out. We wanted to work together with the best people in the business to make this a great record and when Phil (Anselmo) said he wanted to be involved it was a no-brainer”.

“Dead Set” was produced by Phil Anselmo with colleagues Michael Thompson and Steve Berrigan handling engineering duties at Nodferatu’s Lair Studio (Down, Eyehategod, Superjoint Ritual) in Louisiana, USA and will feature the following tracks:

1. Anthem Of The Advance Sinner
2. Need No Savior
3. Hell Comes Your Way
4. Like A Rat
5. Tomorrow Turns To Blood
6. Home Is Where The Gutter Is
7. Sick In The Head
8. Punisher
9. Reject
10. Dead Set

US metallers PANTERA posted last night, Saturday 28th February, via their official Facebook page that guitarist Dimebag Darrell‘s grave was desecrated by a band, who posted about the fact on social media. Read PANTERA‘s statement below:

“We are absolutely disgusted by this! We ask that all of you please show Dime & his grave the respect he deserves. This conduct will not be tolerated and the authorities have been notified.”

Since then, the band NUCLEAR HELLFROST have posted a statement on their official Facebook page claiming it was nothing to do with them, but their ex-vocalist:

“The posts about us and to us are a complete surprise to us. Anything having to do with grave desecration was entirely a hoax put on by our former lead singer completely disconnected from the other members of the band. If you see Dimebag’s grave you can see there is nothing carved into his grave, the only thing that exists is a photo of a piece of paper posted by the former member. We are strongly against any sort of homophobia, racism, or outright disrespect for a human being. We have nothing but the utmost respect for Dimebag and this is a misguided political publicity stunt that we were dragged into by a former member with an awful sense of humor. Nuclear Hellfrost as a band would like to apologize on this former member’s behalf to not only Dimebag’s fans, but most importantly his family. Again, the members of Nuclear Hellfrost had absolutely ZERO actual involvement in any of the alleged actions described by our former singer. Again, nothing but respect to Dimebag as a human being and condolences to his family. These are fabricated and contrived allegations on the internet that never happened in real life.”

The band also posted a statement from ex-vocalist Reece Eber who admitted:

“This is Reece Eber, the guy who ignorantly acted like a fool and pulled the dumbest possible delinquent act of my life… And where to begin… I’ve become famous today in the worst possible way. My friends and I have received death threats and multiple insults over the past day or so, I’ve made the news, and all I can say to sum it all up is I’m deeply sorry. I acted ignorantly and completely out of line. There is NO reason for doing what I did, and when I say “I”, I mean ME alone. My friends were not present for the event and should have caught up with them when they were walking away, instead i left a piece of paper with an insult to a man many people idolize and for a cheap laugh that I didn’t think about the consequences. I did not carve into it and it was a piece of paper and nothing was stolen. I’m not asking for forgiveness, I’m not asking for sympathy, I am only attempting to express an apology that I want to reach out to the people I hurt and offended with this dumb act. There is no reason for what I did and it was the worst mistake I’ve made in my young and evidently dumb life. I don’t blame the threats and comments. I understand how you feel and that’s why I’m an asshole because I knowingly was out for blood, and so I don’t blame anyone for wanting to do god knows what to me. The fact of the matter is I feel awful and guilty and this will stick with me forever, just like the Seinfeld guy using the N word… I can not express how sorry I am to Vinnie Paul and the Abbott family for the distress I caused, and the other members of Pantera and other acts Darrell was a part of. I owe everyone an apology for my actions because they were uncalled for, and horrible, despicable, and I went way too far. Some jokes are NOT funny and this is one of them. I took a joke way too far with a piece of paper and some hurtful words and as I’ve expressed, I don’t expect any sort of acceptance or sympathy. I’m doing this out of the guilt I feel, knowing I caused this and I want to attempt to make it right even though I’m sure many will not accept this… I’m truly sorry for my actions and I’m sorry I put people I care about in potential danger and upsetting people for my selfish and morbid sense of humor. Anyways to wrap this up, I hope this was read, I hope at least someone will accept this and I hope for a better future for everyone…“

Dimebag formed PANTERA in 1981 with his brother Vinnie Paul and in 1990 the band had their first commercial success with the album “Cowboys From Hell.” The band went on to even bigger success with their distinctive sounding southern groove style metal offering “Vulgar Display Of Power” in 1992.

The brothers later went on to form DAMAGEPLAN after much tension within PANTERA. They released their debut album “New Found Power” in 2004 before Darrell was shot and killed while performing with the band onstage, along with three more people.

Dimebag left his mark and also a huge gap in the metal world, but the legacy of his music lives on. He was ranked 92 in Rolling Stone‘s “100 Greatest Guitarists” and number 1 in UK metal magazine Metal Hammer and frequently appeared in polls and guitar magazines, as well as writing his own column in Guitar World magazine. He endorsed Dean guitars and had co-designed his own signature guitar just months before his death called the Razorback.

A previously unreleased song performed entirely by PANTERA and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell, “Whiskey Road” is now streaming online, issues RollingStones.com. The guitarist, who died 10 years ago this month, recorded the tune in 2001, when Pantera were wrapping up what was to be their final U.S. tour. Guitar World, which premiered the tune and has pressed the song to a vinyl flexi-disc, is also offering a guitar TAB transcription of the track online.

The song is a countryish rocker that begins with acoustic guitar and soaring, “Free Bird”-style steel guitar as Darrell sings in a deep voice about drinking the song’s titular libation. “Whiskey road, take me home and wash away the pain,” he sings. “Whiskey road, leave me whole and wash me clean again.” About halfway through the tune, the Pantera shredder kicks into a bluesy solo, full of the quivering screechy highs you’d expect from him along with some swirling, Allman Brothers–type licks that fit in with the tune’s southern rock feel.

In the three years between recording the track and his death, Dimebag Darrell would see the end of Pantera, complete recording of the country-metal album Rebel Meets Rebel with David Allen Coe (which came out in 2006) and put out Damageplan’s New Found Power. On December 8th, 2004, a crazed fan shot and killed the guitarist onstage at a performance with the latter band in Columbus, Ohio.

Earlier this month, Darrell’s former bandmate, vocalist Phil Anselmo, wrote a heartfelt tribute to the guitarist for Rolling Stone and bore his soul about how his friend’s death has affected him over the last decade. “The way he went out, using the word ‘murder’ is always a stark, cold, hideous thing,” Anselmo wrote. “None of this shit gets easier for me. It actually keeps getting tougher and tougher. For me, personally, I’ve yet to come to terms with it. I don’t see the sense. I don’t see the everything-happens-for-a-reason attitude. This year is the toughest yet.”